“We seem to have got to the bottom of it and hope to have the whole thing dealt with inside a week or two,” senior engineer for Mayo County Council, Michael Mongan, said this week in relation to the new Achill Island bridge. Mr Mongan was giving the members of the Belmullet Electoral Area committee an update on the bridge which had difficulty closing late last year.
He informed the members that since the November 19 failure of the bridge to close the council and the contractors had carried out a desktop study, an examination of the bridge and all the systems on it. On the night of March 29 through to the morning of March 30 they carried out a number of tests on the bridge, opening and closing it using the automatic and manual opening systems. Following these tests a number of minor tweaks that would have to be carried out with a single valve identified as the probable issue.
Mr Monaghan also told the meeting that at the time the bridge failed to close, a considerable amount of time had elapsed since the previous time it had been opened, and that in future the bridge would need to be opened at least once a month to ensure that it is fully operational.
